OK, Anne. I will go out and take a few pictures of my fabric floor. The first year I used those long "fabric-staples" sold at the big-box stores and made to tack down weed-fabric in the landscape. I used those staples about every 3' along the perimeter of the greenhouses. I no longer bother with that. Since all the fabric edges are under shelving and work-benches, walking on that fabric between my shelves/work-bench doesn't really move it at all. It just seems to stay put. Of course when I have my two greenhouses filled with plants, I have lots of plants/plant-trays sitting on the fabric, under my shelves. It sure won't move then. Right now, in my "Everything Else" greenhouse, I have several dozen plumeria rooting along one side of the greenhouse and rolled up solar blanket material sitting on the fabric along the other side. In the "Orchid" greenhouse, I have 5 gal. buckets filled with orchid potting material under the shelves, sitting on the fabric, again, "anchoring" the fabric. If you still have doubt, just use some fabric staples.

Forgive the quality of the "cleanliness" (these are working-greenhouses) and the coloration you see. The fabric is all black but the greenhouse shading gives it a different color. Oh, that glossy plastic you see at the entrance of my "Everything Else" greenhouse was floor matting, used to protect our floors from rolling office chairs. I just re-purposed it rather than throwing it away. I'm frugal!

Ken, what is the advantage of having the fabric over the mulch (instead of just the mulch by itself)? And I take it that the fabric isn't slippery to walk on?

I will definitely say that I would never, EVER use rock on my GH floor again... when I got my Rion GH, 11 years ago, DH thought some gravel that we already had a pile of would make a good floor, along with pavers down the middle (between the benches). I think this is going to be the year that I pull everything out of there and get rid of that rock once and for all !

I stated previously that is can get a little messy walking on mulch, particularly as it ages and breaks down. Also, I like to keep "crap" from being incorporated into my mulch, and the fabric prevents that. Lastly, I hose my greenhouses down every so often, since mine are truly working greenhouses. Hosing down the floor with a power nozzle, washing everything out through the open door, removes a lot of debris that would settle into the mulch. Other than that, bare mulch is just fine and dandy.

many commercial houses use the fabric to prevent weeds, even if enough debris gather to sprout weeds you can hose or sweep it out. Lastly mulch as it breaks down will track out on your shoes. I like mine, but not everyone can do their own concrete work, with bricks in the center as a drain. All my floor slopes in to prevent ice building up under the sill plates bolted to the concrete.

I don't think I'll go the fabric route at the moment. I'll put stepping stones down the center and make portable 'decks' for the sides and underneath the bench for now.

It's getting there!

I think it's looking great! You're going to love it. My greenhouse has become my own little doghouse.

It's way bigger than my old one and very hard to resist temptation to buy more plants to fill it!

Ya gotta fill it, Anne. That's even more fun than building and having it!

Xeramtheum said:It's way bigger than my old one and very hard to resist temptation to buy more plants to fill it!

It's going to happen anyway, Anne -- might as well go ahead and get it over with!

Well so far I'm restraining myself .. Once I get everything sorted out that I brought from the other house, I have no doubts new plants will be cropping up here and there! I also have to get a mental picture of what needs to overwinter in there, the space it will need and how much space I will have left over. It's only been about 8 weeks that I've been at the new house. The yard is totally different light wise and way bigger too - It's still somewhat of a jumble. I finally got everything potted up that I dug up from the other house last week. Thankfully, the Woodland Plants seem to be adapting .. nothing has up and died on me. I managed to get the Bletilla ochracea up and potted the same day. It was weeks and weeks behind the other B. striata and in bud. I was praying I could get it up without stress and bud abort and I did! It's in bloom now ... I'm so thrilled!

Anne, that one is just gorgeous! I always thought the ochracea was the toughest one of the Bletillas to grow and flower.

Thanks Ursula. At the old house it was in bright shade with full sun for about 20 minutes around midday which is probably why it was weeks behind the B. striata which got more sun ... the soil was also kept on the dry side of moist. Until it multiplies a bit more, I'll keep it in the pot and try to duplicate it's old environment.

Anne, I'm afraid the photos of your beautiful, pristine, new GH have prompted me to post these...

My Rion when it was first set up in 2003:



Fast forward to a couple of days ago:





In all fairness, though, mine gets used mainly for starting seedlings, so I think it's bound to be messier than one that's being used to house beautiful plants such as you have (then again, maybe not...) I do have to say, at any rate, that not many things have given me more pleasure than having the GH has!

I mostly use mine for overwintering my extra tropicals and more delicate plants. Yours looks awesome and I think I'll borrow your idea of running boards along the sides of the stepping stones.

Nice job! I have mine on a concrete slab, but it was existing (part of the driveway) so I didn't have to pour it. When we move, I will have a pad poured with a proper drain system. I still think that concrete is one of the best to control weeds and bugs, but I have a double layer of back support padding on the floor. Concrete is hell on the back.

It also makes for easy cleaning. I bleach the floor at least twice a year.

I've also found that when I sit plants on concrete stepping stones it seems to suck the heat out of the soil. Might be my imagination tho.